If Great Big Sea was on 1998’s Big Shiny Tunes, you’d get Phill Hood! and the Exclamation. Melodic rock with a maritime accent, their debut release Detour has many ingredients that fuse Celtic alt rock with stunning guitar work and creative musicality. Just in time for Canada Day, this record is full of considerations in identity across our great nation, and would be equally at home on a road trip playlist as it would post-breakup. Catch their CD release LIVE at the AFL 2nd Anniversary show July 19th!

After a great chat with Chris Kerba of Eclectic Revival, we dig into their latest release, Life & Love. It’s a great combination of Celtic influenced alt rock and trad tunes that hits all the bases: wartime ballads, drinking lamentations, sweet harmonies and of course a smooth… saxophone? It’s not your father’s adult contemporary, but he’d probably like it too. Check these fellas out and get in the loop!

Kraig Durco’s self-produced EP Guilty Pleasures is a feat of electro-pop with some real weight to it. Infectious melodies, light-hearted millenial aesthetic and groovy rhythms make this a perfect handful of party tracks. Known to AFL fans as the drummer for Electric Waves, Durco takes his solo work in a new direction while keeping the surf-rock motif alive. And for a one-man-band, the tunes feel extremely realized. It’s sheer fun, so get in the loop!

One of Dylan’s personal faves, we tackled PUP’s second full release, The Dream is Over. These Toronto-based punk rockers are reinvigorating the genre, making a fan out of Jesse, and managing to pull themes of depression, death, angst and acceptance into a solid and varied record. With as many complex narratives as there are straightforward loud-fun-angry tracks, it’s a safe bet to say their dream is only beginning.